The USS Ronald Reagan, a U.S. Navy strike group’s flagship aircraft carrier, departed from its Japanese home port after nearly nine years of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The carrier played a crucial role in strengthening defense ties with Japan and other partners in the face of increasing assertiveness by China in the region. It will be replaced later this year by another Nimitz-class carrier, the USS George Washington, currently on assignment near South America.
Family members and friends of the crew gathered at Yokosuka Naval Base to bid farewell to the USS Ronald Reagan as it embarked on its final mission in the region. The carrier was escorted by two guided-missile destroyers and is scheduled to transit in Bremerton, Washington, before heading to its next home port assignment. U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel assured a seamless transition, emphasizing the carrier’s role in ensuring a peaceful and free Indo-Pacific region.
The USS Ronald Reagan arrived in Yokosuka in 2015, following deployments near the Korean Peninsula and contributions to Operation Tomodachi in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Japan. As the only American aircraft carrier deployed outside the U.S. as a flagship of the Carrier Strike Group 5 under the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, it participated in numerous multilateral exercises and visited foreign ports, including a historic call to Da Nang, Vietnam, in 2020.
Tensions in the region have escalated, particularly in the South China Sea between China and neighboring countries over maritime and territorial disputes. Japan is also facing a territorial dispute with China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, leading to frequent face-offs between coast guard ships. Former Defense Minister Tomomi Inada emphasized the importance of cooperation with the U.S. and other like-minded countries to maintain the international order and prevent the East China Sea from becoming another South China Sea.
Inada recently joined an environmental survey near the disputed Senkaku islands, known as the Diaoyu islands in China, where landing is prohibited. The group used drones for land and vegetation surveys, prompting protests from Beijing. Inada called for experts to be allowed to conduct research on Japan’s territory and urged a parliamentary debate on the issue. The increasing tensions in the region highlight the ongoing challenges faced by Japan and its allies in maintaining stability and security in the face of an assertive China.
